About

Here’s a brief history of who I am, what I want to do, and why you should hire me:

Education

Firstly, my name is Kayla. I grew up in Pennsylvania, raised by two supportive parents. Currently, I am a senior at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania and majoring in History, minoring in Technical Writing & Professional Communications, with a concentration in Public History. After I attain my Bachelor’s of Arts (B.A.) in May of 2018, I plan to pursue my master’s in Communications in order to build a long-lasting career in public relations, social media, technical writing, and other communication jobs.

The Value of My Degree

People ask me what I can do with a history degree and my response is always the same: A LOT.  A bachelor's in history helps students and graduates apply lessons of the past to resolve issues of the present, and it gives them the ability to apply an analytical mindset to an array of situations and challenges.

Having problem-solving and analytical skills, from a history degree, are relevant in any industry. We have a specialized understanding on how past events and trends shape modern society and culture, thus preparing history students to analyze and predict behavior of markets and target audiences in today’s world.

Who I Am

Adjectives that best describe me would be ambitious, passionate, dedicated, strong-willed, and diligent. My personal motivation and diligence has helped me achieve many successes throughout my academic career, thus far.

Experience & Professional Achievements 

In my junior year of college, I implemented a free book exchange in my college community called the Little Free Library. I had a desire to help promote reading and make a positive contribution to America’s astonishingly low literacy rates. The project initially started as a class assignment for my Technical Writing I class—but it became a wonderful opportunity for me to put my writing and communication skills to practice, along with learning about how to write proposals and grants. As a result, I was able to receive funding for the purchase of the library from Shippensburg’s Rotary Club, and I obtained book donations from a nonprofit group that is affiliated with the Shippensburg Public Library.

Furthermore, I also published an academic paper in my school’s literary journal, Write the Ship. The paper focuses on analyzing a book about rock and roll, evaluating the author’s assessments on rock and roll, and explaining how the genre transformed the United States.

From June to August of 2017, I was a Collections & Exhibition intern at Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites (HBMS). HBMS is a nonprofit organization and a Smithsonian Affiliate that aims to bring history to life in the community, as well as preserve the area’s culture, customs and its storied past. I was assigned to work on an oral history, photography and memorabilia project called Mugshots: Oral Histories of Musikfest and Musikfest Memorabilia Exhibtions. The main premise of the exhibitions were to preserve, share, and remember fond recollections of Musikfest attendees and to bring the history of Musikfest to life. Each of the oral history testimonies were recorded through the StoryCorps application—a nonprofit oral history organization that’s goal is to share stories of people from all over the world—and will be digitally archived in the Library of Congress database. Through the internship, I attained a set of valuable skills in the marketing and communication fields, such as:

• Writing and editing various external communication materials: press releases, proposals, Eblasts, collaboration letters, scripts, content material for pamphlets, sponsorship opportunities, memos. 
• Supporting the development and integration of communication strategies to promote HBMS and Mugshots
• Coordinating and managing strategic content on social media platforms and postings
• Assist with branding efforts of Mugshots

Additionally, I created an oral history podcast called Unspoken History: Japanese American Internment Camps. This was a group project for my oral history class, where my fellow group members and I collected and analyzed oral history testimonies of Japanese internee survivors from the Denshō digital archives. The main goal for this project is to shine light on a dark period in American history.

What I Believe 

I firmly believe in taking the time to do something right. It is important for professionals who make content and provide services to be aware of the power they have—which is communication and education. The goal of any communication specialist is to provide a positive public image, build professional but long-lasting relationships.

But there are three characteristics that I believe are valuable for any job and company--traits that I know I posess, which are:

• Dependability
• Desire to Learn
• Taking Initiative

Dependability is a character trait that I value as a person. I want employers to be able to believe in me through my display of hard-work, my efforts in contributing to the success of others, and following through with my promises. As an employee, I know that I will be relied on to accomplish tasks and responsibilities that are associated with my job. I can guarantee that I will make great efforts to exceed the expectations of my employer's.

In order to grow and move up, a person must have the desire to learn. I am always interested and eager to learn new skills--I want to make myself a valuable professional and employee, and an asset to the company I work for. Learning and taking the time to educate myself about new things will contribute to my success and growth in a job or company.

Lastly, I like to take the initiative to tackle new opportunities, tasks, and projects as a way to increase the contribution I make to my job. Taking the initiative to volunteer for a project that no one wants to do or a task that is not in my comfort zone, is a wonderful chance to show my talent and ideas to both my fellow co-workers and employer.